Ladies shouldn't work unless they've completed the following

[docmom]

Here was me thinking they used teacups.....

Or pot roasts...

[chaotic life]

I have a centerpiece, damn it! As soon as I figure out which rugrat took off with it THIS TIME, I'm gonna go off on them. Bought that darn pottery bowl in college as an art festival and it is NOT fodder for playtime!!! They usually hide it in the library so their stuffed animals have "homes" but it's not there this time!

I don't do the bulk of the cleaning. They MAKE the mess, they must CLEAN the mess. Hazard of a large family. Everyone has a daily and a weekly chore.....which they have not been doing this week with mom post-op!

I did, however, cut hair this week. Yesterday, a brother came up and said, "Hey mom, how you are feeling?" Me: confused Him: "Well, I need my hair trimmed but only if you are off narcotics. I don't want a cut like what you did to poor brother over there." :doh:

I don't iron. When I married him, I told him to pick the iron HE wanted cause I ironed enough clothes in my family before I married him to last me a lifetime. I iron for sewing projects. Otherwise, I wear wrinkle free fabrics and never, ever touch an iron. He's never once been foolish enough to suggest I iron something for him--not even once!

I have a black thumb. Every blasted thing I have ever planted outside of my rosebushes has DIED. I gave up a long time ago, spent too much time and money to watch it all go down the drain when my cats EAT it.

The rest of her marlarkey, I either follow it now, or I have in the past. Those things had no bearing on my decision to stay home for 15 years. They have no bearing on my choice to return to the workforce either. I wasn't a bad SAHM, homemaker or home educator when I failed miserablly at every one of her stupid guidelines. I'm not a good working mother because I can now. I don't need justification to go to work and earn an income. I'm a human being, just like my husband and everyone else. I'm not a Stepford robot. I don't need to justify my choices and I don't need to meet her standars to provide I have a right to work. I work because I choose to do so, because I enjoy having something that is mine, and because I LIKE the income I bring in (and the cash I get to keep in my wallet for doing so).

I'm not working this week. I don't have to justify to Lady Lydia my right to work.....but I do have to demonstrate to my boss that I'm sufficiently healed post-op to not require narcotics or naps when I'm supposed to be doing patient care! However, my unexpected adventure for Easter has reminded me why I'm SOO glad so many women make a choice to work. Most of those who cared for me were women. Nurses, doctors and aides are VERY important when you have a medical emergency and for all her pontification, Lady Lydia will be grateful for all of us working mothers the day SHE finds herself doubled over in pain so bad she requires a morphone drip and there's a nurse sitting there watching her to get that morphine into her before she starts puking again while she waits for surgery to fix her problem!

[Marian the Librarian]

I am sitting at my non-centerpieced dining room table, reading everyone's responses and laughing so hard I'm crying. I suppose we owe Lady Lydia a thank you for inspiring one of the funniest. threads. ever.

And now, back to polishing my computer files and making my own toilet paper.

[danvillebelle]

BTW, Marian, I love your avatar. We quote that movie a LOT around here, it's an all-time favorite.

[docmom]

I wonder if LL ever thinks that maybe some women actually LIKE to work. I do. I like my job. We don't need my income, but it does allow us to have a nice lifestyle which makes us all happy. I'm not working because I'm bored at home either. Of the things on her list that I consider to actually be important- clean house, good food, happy kids- I've got them covered. I don't think a centerpiece would radically alter my family's wellbeing and, really, that's all that matters.

[Marian the Librarian]

BTW, Marian, I love your avatar. We quote that movie a LOT around here, it's an all-time favorite.

Thanks! :D

Zaneeta Shinn: "Yee Gods!! It's indecent to meet boys at the footbridge!"

Mayor Shinn: "You watch your phraseology, young woman!!"

[jaynie]

SO I've accomplished most of the things on that list (all the ones that it is possible for me to accomplish, being an garder-less dining-room-less type) -- I've even got a centerpiece! -- and I'm a full time student to boot. The thing is, when I have a week or two off and don't get out of the house very much, I'm actually *less* likely to do those things. They're boring, and if the most exciting thing I have to accomplish in a day is "fold the laundry", it does my head in. I get depressed and claustrophobic if I'm stuck at home for more than a day, and if I have too much time off I will do things like "go to the library to work on the novel" just so I can get out. So if I tried to follow this list *instead* of getting a job (I'm counting studenthood as a "job" here), it would fall apart immediately, because if "clean the tops of the cabinets" is the be all and end all of my to do list, well, what's the point in even bothering with that? I'd just end up laying about all day trying not to be too sad about the dishes I don't have the energy to do. But if I've got other things going on, homemaking is a nice distraction; the dishes get done, the living room is clean and nicely decorated, and people can come over for tea all they want. (Or wine; I'm not fussy). And all this while learning more than one new thing a year (or even a week)!

I'm pretty sure if I'd been a 1950s housewife, I would have been the alcoholic variety. Or the "Fuck this, I don't give a damn about the patriarchy, I'm going to work anyway" variety. Women's lib has been brilliant for my mental health.

[louisa05]

My husband cleaned out the refrigerator while I was at work yesterday. I assume this means I'm going to hell?

[Marian the Librarian]

Here's another little gem of feminine perfection that's right up Lady Lydia's alley (forgiveness sought if this has been posted before):

[VooDooChild]

Does a wine rack count as a centerpiece?

We don't use our dining room table. Mostly because of the layout of our dining/living room. It's too crowded to eat at it comfortably. So, it houses a wine rack, my dog's ashes, and my mom's favorite snowman from her snowman collection. Am I doing it wrong?

[ILoveJellybeans]

Does anyone actually do all of these things? Especially the fundie women this is aimed at. The only centerpiece on Michelle's dining room table is a Jchild with dirty feet, and she doesnt do the dishes, she uses paper plates. Some of the families dont even HAVE beds to make (maybe that one should be whether your beds or shelves are made).

[Minerva]

What an imbecile. I lost it at "do you have a centerpiece?" though. PRIORITIES, LADIES!

Apparently I have my priorities all wrong. Here I thought it was more important for me to be able to pay my tuition than to have a useless trinket on my kitchen table.

But LL's right. The world doesn't need more scientists, it needs more tables with centrepieces! Imagine what a better place the world would be today if Rosalind Franklin had consulted Lady Lydia's list. We'd have no idea what the structure of DNA is, but Rosalind Franklin's table would have had a centrepiece!

I wonder if LL would be so kind as to fly to Canada and explain to my landlord why it's more important for me to bake bread than pay my rent.

[pookel]

I'm pretty sure if I'd been a 1950s housewife, I would have been the alcoholic variety. Or the "Fuck this, I don't give a damn about the patriarchy, I'm going to work anyway" variety. Women's lib has been brilliant for my mental health.

My grandmother quit her job as a university English instructor to stay home and have babies in the 1950s. My dad apparently had an idyllic childhood and the photos from those years look lovely and peaceful ... but my grandmother became a raging alcoholic later in life, and after she died, I found a poem she'd written in one of her books about how she was meant for something more than the life of a housewife. She could read Beowulf in the original, but she spent her days cooking meatloaf, cleaning house, and hosting cocktail parties. :(

[louisa05]

But LL's right. The world doesn't need more scientists, it needs more tables with centrepieces! Imagine what a better place the world would be today if Rosalind Franklin had consulted Lady Lydia's list. We'd have no idea what the structure of DNA is, but Rosalind Franklin's table would have had a centrepiece!

.

I'm sure there were some poor male scientists out there who would have figured out the structure of DNA but they were so stressed by coming home to dining room tables without centerpieces and having to ask for ironed shirts that they couldn't focus. If we would all submit and do more crafts, the men would be free to fix everything!

[jaynie]

My grandmother quit her job as a university English instructor to stay home and have babies in the 1950s. My dad apparently had an idyllic childhood and the photos from those years look lovely and peaceful ... but my grandmother became a raging alcoholic later in life, and after she died, I found a poem she'd written in one of her books about how she was meant for something more than the life of a housewife. She could read Beowulf in the original, but she spent her days cooking meatloaf, cleaning house, and hosting cocktail parties. :(

That makes me so sad, and it's such a common story. Both of my grandmothers were of the "going to work anyway" variety and somehow my parents still manage to have fond, idyllic memories of childhood. I hate that everyone didn't/doesn't get the chance to live up to their potential, just because of some stupid idea that women are "better off" oppressed and stuck at home. :cry:

[LynnGrey]

I wonder if there are any women that were actually influenced by this checklist? What kind of woman would that be?

I'm imagining someone who's feeling pressured or guilted into getting a job or feels guilty for enjoying being a housewife. She reads the list and is relieved to find more tasks she can add on to her day to validate her "job" and work ethic. She rationalizes that any working wife has to let so much go around the house that it's not a lifestyle she would enjoy anyway.

[twinmama]

Stay at home mom here and my list really consists of

1) keep kids alive and fed until tomorrow

2) repeat #1 everyday

3) try to clean something once in a while

Oh and our center piece is all the Cheerios that the boys are too short to reach that end up in the center of the table. Maybe that'll be my thing to clean up today.

[twin2]

I was inspired by Lady Lydia. I don't think fundie SAHM bloggers should blog until they have completed the following tasks:

1. Read "The Handmaids Tale"

2. Take your kids to a natural history museum to look at some transition fossils.

3. Rid your house of all plumbing line not actually used for plumbing.

4 Take an adult education course at the community college.

5. Spend an entire day doing absolutely nothing of importance while you husband takes the kids out for a day.

6. Watch a documentary about the origin of the universe.

7. Go to the store and a buy a new iron so your husband can do his own damn ironing if he needs a freshly pressed shirt.

8. Engage in some self fellowship (not saying you have to, but something to try of your curious)

9. Read a book about another religion.

10. Come hang out on Free Jinger for a while!

[purpleeee]

I was inspired by Lady Lydia. I don't think fundie SAHM bloggers should blog until they have completed the following tasks:

1. Read "The Handmaids Tale"

2. Take your kids to a natural history museum to look at some transition fossils.

3. Rid your house of all plumbing line not actually used for plumbing.

4 Take an adult education course at the community college.

5. Spend an entire day doing absolutely nothing of importance while you husband takes the kids out for a day.

6. Watch a documentary about the origin of the universe.

7. Go to the store and a buy a new iron so your husband can do his own damn ironing if he needs a freshly pressed shirt.

8. Engage in some self fellowship (not saying you have to, but something to try of your curious)

9. Read a book about another religion.

10. Come hang out on Free Jinger for a while!

Awesome list!

11. Realize that not all 3.5 billion female human beings on this planet have to live exactly the same way.

(let's get her up to 30 :)

[danvillebelle]

I wonder if there are any women that were actually influenced by this checklist? What kind of woman would that be?

I'm imagining someone who's feeling pressured or guilted into getting a job or feels guilty for enjoying being a housewife. She reads the list and is relieved to find more tasks she can add on to her day to validate her "job" and work ethic. She rationalizes that any working wife has to let so much go around the house that it's not a lifestyle she would enjoy anyway.

That would have been me, about six years ago. It wasn't pretty. I was clinically depressed and deep in denial. I'm better now.

And I'm going back to school to become a scientist. LL will keep busy making a cheap fleece cloak for every weather pattern. :roll:

[Black Aliss]

I was inspired by Lady Lydia. I don't think fundie SAHM bloggers should blog until they have completed the following tasks:

1. Read "The Handmaids Tale"

2. Take your kids to a natural history museum to look at some transition fossils.

3. Rid your house of all plumbing line not actually used for plumbing.

4 Take an adult education course at the community college.

5. Spend an entire day doing absolutely nothing of importance while you husband takes the kids out for a day.

6. Watch a documentary about the origin of the universe.

7. Go to the store and a buy a new iron so your husband can do his own damn ironing if he needs a freshly pressed shirt.

8. Engage in some self fellowship (not saying you have to, but something to try of your curious)

9. Read a book about another religion.

10. Come hang out on Free Jinger for a while!

If your bathroom stinks put some Cheerios in the toilet bowl and teach your husband how to aim. Then show him how to clean a bathroom properly. If it's his job, he'll be motivated to hit the target.

[lilah]

I wonder if she'd lose her tiny mind to find out my dad a surgeon bakes the bread in our family. It really does taste goof.

[PennySycamore]

I wonder if she'd lose her tiny mind to find out my dad a surgeon bakes the bread in our family. It really does taste goof.

My dad was always the biscuit maker in our family rather than my mom who said she was no good at it. He was also the masher of potatoes and often made breakfast. He could knit and he also made soap and candles. I'm glad that I have his rolling pin now.

[Minerva]

My dad was always the biscuit maker in our family rather than my mom who said she was no good at it. He was also the masher of potatoes and often made breakfast. He could knit and he also made soap and candles. I'm glad that I have his rolling pin now.

Neither of my parents were particularly skilled in the kitchen. The siblings and I were happy, healthy and well-fed even though our bread was store-bought and nothing was ever made from scratch. In fact, we were probably happier than if one of our parents had stayed home and baked, since our family had twice the income and could afford nicer things that way.

[Wolfie]

I wonder if she'd lose her tiny mind to find out my dad a surgeon bakes the bread in our family. It really does taste goof.

My dad doesn't make bread, (but apparently my grandpa was a baker before he owned a bar, and would occasionally come home from the bar and bake a bunch of bread and pizza), my mom is decent at bread, but I've become the one told to make bread for family gatherings. HOWEVER, my dad is good at cooking gourmet foods. He's a good cook overall, just not a baker other than pizza. And my dad was a politician. lol